Get Ready For The Lawrence Hall of Science's Presentation on Solids, Liquids, and Gases!

This year, Blossom Hill Elementary School students will begin 2016 with a science assembly provided by the Lawrence Hall of Science. The assembly, which will take place on Tuesday, January 5, will focus on solids, liquids, and gases.

The assembly will compare and contrast the three states of matter, and apparently might involve some “strange behavior” of fruits and vegetables – all the while teaching students central scientific concepts recommended by the California Board of Education.

The Wordle picture above contains some of the associated vocabulary and ideas that will be part of the presentation. Below (after the jump) are some of the terms explained, from LHS.

Are there any experiments that you and your child can think of working on together that explore the attributes of solids, liquids, and gases?

Then-Third Graders Sophie and Rachel Hernandez's project from last year's science fair provides a good example of the kind of experiment that explores these attributes. The sisters conducted an experiment on non-Newtonian liquids -- substances that can behave like liquids or solids depending on how you interact with them. 

Here is a demonstration of the attributes of non-Newtonian liquids:

Chemistry: A field of science that deals with the composition, properties and interactions of substances (matter.) 

​Matter: Anything that has mass and takes up space. Normally in solid, liquid or gas phase.

Phase: A state of matter, a classification based on specific properties of substances. Solid: A substance that holds together to create its own definite shape.

Liquid: A substance that flows, has no definite shape and takes on the shape of its container or makes puddles.

Gas: A substance that does not hold together and can expand into the available space.

Atoms: The basic building blocks of normal matter.

Molecules: Two or more atoms bound together as a unit. Examples are carbon dioxide  (CO2), oxygen (O2), and water (H2O), table salt (NaCl).

Energy: The capacity for doing work; the universe is made of matter and energy. Some of the forms of energy are: motion, heat, light, electricity, sound.

Heat: Intrinsic energy of a substance by virtue of the motion of its atoms/molecules. Melting: A phase change involving the addition of energy (heating) to a solid, changing the  solid into a liquid.

Evaporation: A phase change involving the addition of energy to a liquid, changing the  liquid into a gas. When this happens at a very fast rate it's called boiling. Condensation: A phase change involving the removal of energy (cooling) from a gas, changing the gas into a liquid. Example: water vapor is made visible in the air as a result of cooling warm, moist air.

Water vapor: A mixture of air and tiny invisible droplets of water suspended in it. Water  vapor is present in warm air, such as the air you exhale. When the droplets are slightly larger, they appear opaque-white in the air; this is called steam (hot) or fog (cold). Freezing: A phase change involving the removal of energy from a liquid, changing the liquid into a solid.

Sublimation: A phase change in which a substance changes directly from a solid to a gas due to addition of heat.

Deposition: A phase change in which a substance changes directly from a gas to a solid, due to removal of heat.

Carbon dioxide: An invisible, odorless gas made of molecules with one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen. It becomes a solid (dry ice) at –109°F (–79°C).

Liquid nitrogen: Nitrogen gas that has been cooled under pressure to a temperature of –321°F/–196°C, at which point it turns to liquid. ​